European markets looked to the release of U.S. nonfarm payrolls later Friday for further clues on the state of the jobs market there.

As usual, we’ve had a good old rummage through the big broker notes to provide you with a selection of our top picks.

Goldman Sachs focused on the U.K. real estate sector. It downgraded British Land, Land Securities and Great Portland Estates. It sees a number of factors leading to weaker momentum for many U.K. Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, with earnings and net asset value growth likely to limit share price performance against both U.K. equities and European listed real estate stocks.

GS analysts said key exceptions are Big Yellow and Hammerson, both of which have some positive growth characteristics.

Much of the concern about the euro-zone crisis and Spain in particular has centered on the real estate market. Spain’s economy bet on a property market that turned out to be a bubble.

But what of the U.K.? Societe Generale takes a look at the U.K. property sector in the first of our equity ratings picks for Thursday.

SocGen analysts have cut British Land, to sell from buy, Derwent London, Land Securities and Great Portland Estates to sell from hold, stating that the U.K. sector is over-valued by 7%. The brokerage does not think that another round of credit easing will support positive returns from the U.K. real estate sector.

However the U.K. can still outperform the euro zone said the brokerage, “as we just don’t know what might now happen to the euro,” said Societe Generale.

Elsewhere, Thales has been raised to buy from neutral by Citigroup on valuation and BAE Systems has been downgraded to neutral from buy due to a lack of positive catalysts.

It’s a lackluster session for stocks Friday with all the main indexes trading between small losses and small gains.

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating of Spain late on Thursday but equity investors have hardly batted an eyelid. At least there are some interesting broker notes to peruse. Here are our top picks:

CRH and British Land have both been upgraded by the number crunchers at JPMorgan Cazenove.

On CRH, JPMorgan said the shares have drifted 11% from a high of €16.8 reached in mid-March. This, along with some upgrades following its full-year results, leaves the shares looking more attractive. Indded the shares bounced nearly 3% to €12.50 in early morning trading Friday, indicating investors want a slice of the action.

These buildings may have catchy nick-names and great design features, but I wonder if the developers may have missed the boat in terms of the construction timing. Perhaps in light of this both developers have signed joint ventures with partners to derisk the schemes.

Land Securities is partnering with seasoned office developer Songbrid Estates, which also owns most of the Canary Wharf estate. British Land is partnering with Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of OMERS, a Canadian pension fund.

Both developers are building into an uncertain market. Consumer and business confidence is likely to remain weak for years, so it’s the wrong time to start pre-letting space given rents are low. What’s more, both buildings will launch huge amounts of space onto the market at the same time.

So what’s the point? If there is an upside, the developers will have to share it. Yes–de-risking is a good idea in uncertain markets. But sharing profits? Not so fabulous.

Looking at Hammerson’s statement this morning, only one comment springs to mind: This is how it’s done.

The company is the first REIT (or Real Estate Investment Trust) to grow its dividend. It is the only one coming through with what it said it would do at the rights issue last year. Other property companies, which pretend to be ‘strategic’ through development pipelines can only watch and learn.

Hammerson has a development pipeline too, but on top of this it has been buying a lot of assets, selling a lot of assets and in general behaving like a property company should. Taking advantage of what the market currently presents. No wonder analysts and investors cheered the results and its shares have risen some 4% over the day.

But there is one more thing, which will discredit other REITs. Someone very wise once said that everyone has one chance in his life time to buy cheap property, the key is to have cash at that moment.

I believe nowadays that successful CEOs should have one such chance as well, but I very much doubt that the CEOs of big REITs have used theirs. This has been confirmed to me today and last week, as I was doing my rounds with contacts.

Hammerson’s CEO David Atkins said on today’s press call that there are plenty of buying opportunities in the market. This was in line with what I’ve heard from experts at Legal & General and Carlyle last week. In fact, everyone I meet these days seems to think that there are lots of properties for sale currently, everyone but the large REITs that is.

Great Portland on Thursday issued its full-year results with a 16% increase in net asset value, 31.5% rise in adjusted pre-tax profits and a 24% upside to the acquisitions it made since the summer of last year. There was also news of another joint venture and an another acquisition.

The company also gave an impressively detailed outlook on the market, development activity and acquisitions.

On reading Land Securities’ third quarter update and development program this morning, it felt a bit like Groundhog Day. I recalled, back in 2008, thumbing through statements or chatting to property experts, while the real estate world came tumbling down, and thinking: “what are you going to do about it?” or “why haven’t you prepared for it?”

Today, I had to ask myself again.

Let’s start with the good news. Land Securities, the U.K.’s largest commercial property landlord, is putting some £345 million into three £655 million West-End developments, which will be completed two to three years from now.

It is more of a strategy than some REITs have, so we won’t complain about that. But isn’t it already too late to make the very best of the opportunities that lie ahead?

He’s looking to spend £1 billion on investments, including acquisitions, and is bidding for some £500 million worth of deals. Though he hasn’t been successful as of yet. He also recently said he is seeing more buyers in the property market than sellers. What does that tell you?

British Land is also on the lookout for bargains and has £2.5 billion to spend. Not to mention every other cash-rich property mogul – and there’s quite a few – also looking to go on a property shopping spree.

It’s not hard to see that they’ll end up chasing the same prime assets. There aren’t that many available, so guess what? Those that are, are gradually rising in price.

Take the £300 million Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow being sold by Lloyds Banking Group. British Land is after it, as is Hammerson – so it will almost certainly fetch a jolly good price.

So to make my point: I was told, some time ago, that the chance to snap up prime assets at good prices has passed and the only company, which really took advantage of the window of opportunity was AIM-listed London & Stamford Property, run by industry veterans Raymond Mould and Patrick Vaughan.

So why is everyone so cheery about Salway bringing in some form of buying strategy? [Read on over the jump.]

ITV‘s prayers have been answered – with the appointment of Archie Norman as the broadcaster’s new chairman. He may have more experience in retailing and politicking, but he’s a right charmer and if anyone’s capable of shaking up ITV it could well be he. [Read the statement]

As one trader put it: “I think this is an imaginative choice and he did well at Energis.” [More on this later.]

Simon Cowell lost out, but I feel the better man got the job! With Norman named as chairman the path is cleared for ITV to announce who’ll join him as its CEO.

So what’s happening apart from this drama? Well, Wall Street closed up last night helped by buoyant commodity prices with crude oil pushing towards $80 a barrel after an improvement in US factory output figures.

But, as IG Markets’ Ben Potter points out: “A choppy Asian session is paving the way for a mixed start in Europe.”

The Bank of England’s meeting minutes will be closely watched for clues as to when monetary policy might start to tighten, not least in light of yesterday’s rising inflation figures.

And the prospect of a bidding war breaking out for Cadbury might spice up the corporate agenda.

UK building materials company Wolseley will also be a focus today. The company said its commercial and material markets will continue to deteriorate in the short term, even though residential markets are starting to stabilise. [Read the statement.]

It’s hardly surprising then that its shares are expected to open down from 1373p to around 1345-1347p.

Mixed results for Land Securities will give some direction to the UK’s commercial property stocks. Its shares are expected to open marginally higher at around 716p to 717p. [Read the statement.]

ITV‘s have been prayers with been answered – with the appointment of Archie Norman as the broadcaster’s new chairman. He may have more experience in retailing and politicking, but he’s a right charmer and if anyone’s capable of shaking up ITV it could well be he. [Read the statement]

As one trader put it: “I think this is an imaginative choice and he did well at Energis.” [More on this later.]

Simon Cowell lost out, but I feel the better man got the job! With Norman named as chairman the path is cleared for ITV to announce who’ll join him as its CEO.

So what’s happening apart from this drama? Well, Wall Street closed up last night helped by buoyant commodity prices with crude oil pushing towards $80 a barrel after an improvement in US factory output figures.

But, as IG Markets’ Ben Potter points out: “A choppy Asian session is paving the way for a mixed start in Europe.”

The Bank of England’s meeting minutes will be closely watched for clues as to when monetary policy might start to tighten, not least in light of yesterday’s rising inflation figures.

And the prospect of a bidding war breaking out for Cadbury might spice up the corporate agenda.

UK building materials company Wolseley will also be a focus today. The company said its commercial and material markets will continue to deteriorate in the short term, even though residential markets are starting to stabilise. [Read the statement.]

It’s hardly surprising then that its shares are expected to open down from 1373p to around 1345-1347p.

Mixed results for Land Securities will give some direction to the UK’s commercial property stocks. Its shares are expected to open marginally higher at around 716p to 717p. [Read the statement.]